Dear Work Therapist - How to introduce One Team and One Collaborative Thinking?

[#1]

Dear Work Therapist,

I trust you are doing well. Thanks for your previous suggestions which really helped the team to sort out issues.

This post is to introduce One Team and grow collaborative mindset instead of drawing boundaries of scope and raising out of scope and pointing that it needs to be taken care by outside team and then arguments leading wastage of time.  

I know this situation is not something new but I would like to know about the important suggestions to overcome this situation.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Regards,

One Team & One Collaborative Believer

[Warde Wynter]

While it is not a silver bullet, adopting a team charter (values) that defines what is the expected behaviour, is a start. You will then at least have a benchmark for what is acceptable,, and something to refer to.

[Sedera Randria]

Suggestions I use myself to promote collaboration :

• WHY a team is needed? big picture + challenges + common understanding
• HOW they want to be a team? a serious game to open discussion about common values, team charter & WoW
• WHERE do you see the Team in 1 year? postcard from the future
• WHAT indicators do you want to use to challenge the evolution of the team? OKRs
• WHEN to inspect/adapt/celebrate team evolution?
• DAILY activities to encourage collaboration: pair programming, swarming, learning together, social commitment as a team, appreciation, etc.

:-)

[Christine P_ Dela Rosa]

Dear One Team & One Collaborative Believer,

Indeed, the concept of one team is tied directly to collaborative thinking. The more a team feels together, the more collaborative they are together.

That said, I suggest finding a way for participants to feel they are part of one team. It could be a shared understanding of the end goal or a sense of purpose of all the roles to the end goal. Whatever binds everyone together is what unifies the team, and in turn, should engage collaboration.

On top of emotional connection, the ability to collaborate requires understanding roles and responsibilities and respecting expertise. To do this, clarifying these expectations through a team charter like @Warde Wynter suggested. Or, running through working agreements (when to live and async collaborate, how to provide updates, what the DACI/RACI looks like for approvals and contributions), etc as @Sedera Randria suggests in behavioral expectations.

And finally, it's also important to do this both at the start of team formation and regularly as project scope or team members change. After all, what's true for the team at one stage may not be true down the road.

Good luck!

[Anita Kalmane]

On the same note, do you have any energiser / teambuilding activity (max 15min), which would be useful to introduce one team mindset?

[Laura Holton _ACE Rotterdam_]

Team activities both in and out of the 9-5 environment works well in my experience 😃

[Suvradip Paul]

@Anita Kalmane  - As of now, there are for individual ones but not involving multiple teams. Do you think 15 mins window would be enough if we have suppose 6 teams and each having 5 members? Could you please elaborate? 

[Suvradip Paul]

Thanks to @Laura Holton _ACE Rotterdam_ , @Anita Kalmane , @Christine P_ Dela Rosa , @Sedera Randria  and @Warde Wynter  for your valuable inputs and insights.

[Fabian Lim]

Thanks for the insights.

[Anita Kalmane]

@Suvradip Paul , I was asking for my own benefit and hijacking your thread, sorry :D 

[Suvradip Paul]

No, it's fine @Anita Kalmane ! We are learning everyday and each and every contribution matters. Please feel free to add. Have a great day ahead.